Tag Archives: garlic seed

Yeah, you just know deep down inside that garlic is the crop to get into. You know it and there ain’t nothing to convince you otherwise. Except you’re not entirely sure how to start.

Premium Consumer Garlic

You think to yourself no problem, ask a pro. There are a few weeks yet to get the garlic game on.

[Googley-woggle-clickity-click-tap]… ‘How To Grow Garlic’. [clickity-click-tap]… Now, who is growing the best stuff out there? [Clickity-click-clickity-tap]… Hi, You have no idea who I am but I came across your article and… [clickety-click-tap]… I was wondering if you could tell me, a total but well deserving stranger, all your… [clickety-click]… secrets on growing garlic…[tap]?

That ought to do it. Worth a try. I mean all they can do is say no right. Bastards… [tap]… ‘Send’

Listen, growing garlic organically or any ground crop for that matter, is first and foremost about the soil. It is important to understand the structure and quality of your soil and to always, this is important, always improve the health of your soil. You do that in part by adopting a crop rotation plan. Mandatory. ‘Rotation for the Nation’. It’s important. Imagine the words ‘Rotation for the Nation’ on an equatorial banner hugging Mother Earth then apply that shit to a t-shirt. #DragonsDen

You’re welcome.

Here is our best advice. Rotate crops every four years. Not three. Not two. Four. If you desire one acre of any one crop you must strive to have a minimum of four acres with which to work.

Four panels (mid-top) in organic rotation at farmersdotter

Regardless, online articles about organic growing methods are numerous and for the most part much better at explaining than anything I could impart in a response email sent to you in the middle of the high season.

Take sites like the Old Farmers Almanac with a huge pinch of salt. Eliminate crap like Food Babe (can’t summon the courage to provide a link).

Get past the myriad of science denying tin-foil-hat wearing chem-trail-lookout crack head sites that begin with a top ten list of unicorn sightings and end with a mason jar kombucha recipe. RUN!

In short, do your research and don’t ask the professional. Don’t ask unless they are a Youtube professional. Then it’s all fun and fair game. Youtube pros. Whatever.

Anyway, professionals have paid their dues so to speak and don’t tell their hard won secrets easily.

Drying garlic on Racks

Farmland is expensive and we need young farmers and their families to take up the gauntlet. Yet while we want to support Young Agrarians and their like, there is a value associated with our time, effort and knowledge. We ask you to respect that and humbly suggest you simply begin with an earnest attempt to certify your property with an accredited organic certifying body like those of the COABC. Who, by the way, will forever be your best resource for support and methodology.

We are at the end of a hot and especially dry season. And right now, right at the moment I complete cracking 4000 pounds of garlic bulbs and separate them into little cloves that will forever haunt my dreams I am obliged to acknowledge my sore wrists, my garlic-chaff filled lungs and the fact that autumn has arrived in earnest.

I am not ready for autumn.

I’m still coping with the faint memory of last spring slipping into this summer which is now gone. No more.

Don’t care.

Right. Time to plant.

Regardless of the amount of garlic to be planted it is best, especially in moist and temperate climates, to plant garlic in a purpose built raised bed. On a larger scale a raised-bed former is used.

We use a six inch spacing. In a bed three feet wide we plant six across and advance by six inches.

Six Inch Spacing

Plant to a depth where the top of the clove is two to four inches beneath the surface of the soil. Plant too shallow and you run the risk frost will heave the clove out of the winter ground. Mulching with straw will help prevent this from happening.

When planting by hand, as we do, it is difficult to plant too deep and four inches is an easy depth to achieve. This should result in a nice size bulb that is also easy to extract come harvest time.